out on the high plains of eastern Colorado something truly wild and
wonderful is happening here on 720 acres 450 exotic animals have found a refuge
and a place they can call home this is the Wild Animal Sanctuary in this
episode we'll learn about the incredible journey from captivity to freedom the
journey from captivity to the safety of a sanctuary isn't an easy one it's a
delicate process that has to be taken with baby steps modes their story how
when did they get here they got here in 2009 so they've been here for about
seven and a half almost eight years they came from Idaho they came from a guy who
was breeding them and selling them as exotic pets eventually the state stepped
in and took over that's how they ended up here
you can't take him and throw him out in a 20-acre habitat when they've never
been in anything bigger than 10 feet by 20 feet an animal that has lived its
entire life in captivity may have never felt the earth under its paws weren't
seen the sky over its head it may never have known fresh air
there's a lockout or what we call an introduction pin where it's placed
within the habitat and then that animal gets the opportunity to get used to
those sights the sounds sadly some of them are getting used to the feeling of
grass underneath their feet you know the first time
oh well there are such beautiful animals it's it's sad that people think that
they can have them as pets because it is such a strong powerful animal that when
they're Cubs they are really cute but even as Cubs I've been around them a
very shark teeth very short laws very powerful animals do you find that once
they get into this habitat that they roam around and really enjoy the large
space all of this is new to them they've never seen it before they'll usually
find essentially a home base in one of the dens and they'll stick around there
for a few days but the longer they're there the more comfortable they get the
more they'll start to roam around and start to play and have fun with one
another
many of the sanctuaries animals have been horribly neglected and abused most
of the animals we take about 85% are ones that people try to have as pets or
some crazy thing like that and and then the other percentages are from breeders
or zoos or circuses we're talking bears and mountain lions moles and Lynx and
Bobcats we have a tiger Diego that he spent the first four years of his life
almost every day being sedated so people could hold his head and take their
picture with this beautiful white tiger the issues that that caused him mentally
from every day going through the trauma of being immobilized you know we don't
know how they did it but if you're doing it on a daily basis you're probably
doing it in the cheapest fastest way I always wish people could really for a
second back away and really apply empathy to these animals
with their traumatic backgrounds the sanctuary staff takes special care to
gradually introduce the animals into their new homes when they've spent their
lives being abused or beaten by every human that they've seen unfortunately we
look no different to them and so sometimes it can be a long process we
have animals who we get who will spend months down in the clinic or months in a
smaller cage or sometimes even years because of how much they have to kind of
get through what I've been learning since I've been here is that if you go
through these stages and you're patient with them and you put them in a habitat
where they can get away they can have their own space when they need to and
you feed them appropriately and you don't have some of those aggressive or
territorial behaviors that exactly she's really neat
because you guys are thinking about every single part of that which is just
I think is really fascinating the first stop is often a visit to the vet where
they are given a check-up and medical treatments you can hear is receiving
stem-cell therapy to help recover from terrible abuse his little cell nice and
cool when they're healthy enough the new residents are placed in small enclosures
where they feel safe and can begin the process of acclamation
for the big cats that means a stay in the round house
a lot of times people are like oh well it's a tiger it will figure it out but
if you make a tiger live in a crawl space for the first 10 years of its life
that exposure has never been there once they feel comfortable in the small
enclosures they'll move on to the common areas where they can mingle with other
cats for some it's the first time in their lives that they've been with their
own kind I think one of the things that makes us really unique is definitely are
individualized kind of focus on each animal I think a lot of times people
will have a tendency to be like oh that's a group of lions to us no it's
that's where uh that's when yucca that's baby leo they live as a group but
they're all very individual and what do we do on a daily basis to ensure that
they see that we recognize that where the animals finally settle depends on
their needs some bears prefer their own space so
that's what they get
Chumbley and diesel on the other hand are very social and like to spend every
waking minute together
the habitats are expertly designed and constructed to give each species the
space privacy and enrichment that they need ongoing medical care and nutrition
are critical parts of the animals recovery and thanks to generous
donations from a national retailer the animals enjoy a healthy diet so they
just donate the meat yeah they donate all of the meat for us each week two
trucks make 47 stops at Denver area locations where they load up with most
of the 49,000 pounds of food the animals need for the week these animals could
never be released into the wild because it's a world they've never known
survival skills like hunting are passed down from one generation to the next so
true freedom is just not an option but the sanctuary is giving them the
very best outcome possible here there is free as they can be we try to kind of
let them be as much as possible and not really just observe them while they're
actually eating because a lot of them can get pretty aggressive about it and
stresses them out a lot so we just try to just let them be Tigers and do what
they do go be a lion enjoy being a lion chase the birds play with sticks hide in
the grass and scare each other and I think the size of the sanctuary
definitely plays to that but I think our philosophy and our kind of how we
approach our husbandry also has a big part of that we just want them to be as
free as possible despite years of neglect and abuse these majestic animals
are resilient somehow their painful past hasn't ruined their hopeful future as
they live the remaining years and comfort and peace they have so much to
teach us about love dignity and forgiveness